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I'm having difficulties with my mobile phone provider. I was on one of the major operators and have moved to another provider because they told me they piggyback onto that provider so the service would be the same and can save me some money as a new customer.
The problem is its really shoddy and now the company I've moved to wont let me out of the agreement without paying up until the end of the agreement. Every time I complain about the service and say its not as good as it was when I was with the main provider they come up with the new excuse and say their service is the same as the main provider because they piggyback on them. We go round and round in circles.
I called consumer direct and they said I need to build a case by gathering evidence of the differences in the two services. Saying it and providing it is proving difficult.
My question is ; what technical questions can I ask the piggyback provider about their service? I plan to then go to the main provider and ask the same questions so I will have comparative answers to then go back to the piggy back service and show them the differences at a technical level why the service must be different.

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help in terms of how to challenge a Private land PCN that my mum has just got. She parked in the car park, paid for her ticket, placed it on her dashboard under her windscreen (there was no sticky bit to apply it to the screen). She was observed doing this by the carpark attendant. She then went shopping and came back inside the paid for time to find a PCN on her windscreen. The reason for the PCN was 'Not displaying a valid ticket'. The ticket had flipped over either by a draft or vibration and was not readable.
Now, while I can see that there was a 'breach' shall we say of the 'contract' - would it not be fair to say that this is a technicality? The parking was paid for; it was seen to be paid for; there was no overstay. I advised my mum to write to the Parking company to appeal on this basis but they have dimissed it as not relevant and insist that the 'breach' of 'contract' validates their demand for £60 (rising to £100).
I'm of a mind to go down the POPLA route but i read in a few places that POPLA don't take mitigating circumstances into account - is this correct?
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Kholo

late last year I won on the wheel of fortune in the life of leisure game at mecca bingo.com it came up congratulations you have won £10.000 a month for 12 months and your first instalment has been paid into your account !
I was gob smacked and thought I was seeing things , but there in my account was £10,000.
I rang mecca bingo to see how my other payments would be made , immediately the game was removed from the site and they were confused by what I was telling them as they stated "they do not pay prizes in instalments".
after several phone calls , they even asked me what I wanted to resolve ? I obviously said my £110,000 and they had to speak with the game makers Ash Gaming who are American based I believe and who it seemed had given Mecca a version of the game with this instalment prize , after a few days of phone calls they came back stating technical error and added another £1000 to my account for the inconvenience and phone calls,
I explained I was not happy with their response and was referred to alder hay gaming commission who just sent me an email saying I was lucky to get the £1000 as all they needed to pay me was the cost of my bet back as technical error ! I argued again this was not a technical error this was purely a part of the game Mecca had on their website.
Due to financial problems , my gambling etc being a huge problem for my family I never took this any further or told anyone till recently and have been advised that I should have challenged Mecca bingo.com and Ash gaming as the game has never been put back on the site and clearly was not a technical error please can someone help and advise if and how I would go about challenging this , do I need a solicitor , I cannot really afford one unless had a good chance of getting the money I won .

Well, it appears my 12 month long minicredit saga could be about to reach its conclusion. After passing my account to Freds who then gave up when I challenged them, the account went to OPOS. After texts not explaining who they were,their email confirmed my suspicion that they were working for MC.
Their opening email stated they wanted £699 (loan was £100 and I've paid £115.50 towards it so far) and would seek a CCJ if not paid within 14 days. They offered a 50% discount of £349.50. I replied asking them to break down their figure and justify all charges, but I am not paying £699. They came back saying fine, you're going to court as you won't pay, see you there. I replied I'm quite happy to go to court but I've tried for a year to settle this and can prove so, but their £100 charges for debt collection are breaking OFT regulations and should be revoked. Eventually he caved in, and I told him exactly what I'd paid so far. He said we'll settle it for £200, to which I made a counter-offer of £76.50, taking the total paid to £192. Still a little over the odds, but an affordable figure for me to end this hell.
It's amazing how it went from £699 to £349.50 to £200 to £76.50 in the space of 24 hours and 6 emails. He also stated that:
When this payment is made, the remainder of the balance outstanding is written off and no further action will be taken. The account will then be closed as classified as fully settled. This will show as paid in full on your credit file. The debt will not be passed to any other agency as it will be written off.
I'm classing this one as a win . Stick to your guns, know your stuff and don't be scared of them. They're powerless, take control and pay what you can. After this, I have one to go, down from 7 just 9 months ago. CAG is awesome.

Customer Update
Many customers should continue to see an improved position on their accounts today, with account transactions continuing to update. We now expect that next week (commencing 9 July) will be the final week of any significant delays for Ulster Bank customers. We expect gradual, but significant and noticeable improvements throughout the remainder of this week and next. It is our expectation that by the week of the 16 July the vast majority of customers will return to a normal service. There may be some final reconciliations required to customers' accounts.We will provide updates daily on our progress.
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We know this disruption to our customers is unacceptable and we're committed to doing all we can to help as many of our customers as possible.
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Electronic payments are being received into accounts but they are delayed. If your salary, pension or welfare payment was due to be paid into your account before Thursday 21st June, this is now in your account balance. If you were due to receive your salary via an electronic payment between Thursday 21st and Friday 29th June this may not yet be in your account.
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We understand that customers are concerned they might get disconnected from a utility or service provider if their account is not paid. We would like to reassure our customers and those of other banks, that we are working with other banks, service providers, insurance and utility companies to make sure that, as a result of this issue, customers will not be without their services, will not be permanently out of pocket and will not have their credit record affected.
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Hello everyone,
I have been paying monthly payments for a halifax mortgage protection product for 10 years and currently pay £83.00 a month on an interest only loan of £71.500.
In Sept/Oct 2009 I put in a complaint as I believed the policy was missold to me. The policy was recommended by Halifax staff when I went to see them and enqire about my first ever mortgage. I was told that it was a really good award winning product and that taking up the policy would be benefical to my mortgage application. The mortgage protection policy has three components -
As an experienced child protection social worker working for a Local Authority (please dont hate me !) there really is zero chance of me being made redundant and if hell should freeze over and I be made redundant there is no shortage of work in other Local Authorities around the county and abroad. I enjoy sickness benefit of 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay, benefits would be paid to my next of kin should I die prematurely and I have family that could help me out should I reqire financial assistance. Consequently I didn't believe the policy was sold to me in my best interests.
Halifax predictably rejected my complaint, gave a final decision and a leaflet regarding FOS at the end of November 2009. I had every intention of referring to FOS but Some horrible and demanding thiings happened over the following 2.5 years and I forgot all about it.
Having resolved many of the problems I was experiencing and being completely ignorant in respect of PPI claims, I wrote to Halifax this year on 6th March giving further information on why I belived that the policy was missold to me. namely that I had no dependents and never had had who might benefit from the life insurance component and that through work I was also entitld to benefits should I become so incapacitated that I was unable to undertake a job.
I recieved no acknowledgment of my complaint and phoned Halifax on 30th of March. they gave me a reference number for my complaint which was the same number as the complaint reference for 2009. having heard nothing further I contacted them again last week and got a written response this week with the same reference number refering me to their original response in 2009 and advising that the case would not be reopened.
Now, I have come to understand that I only had 6 months to refer to FOS and that my reasons for not referring within the timescales will not be accepted as valid enough to justify an exemption. Howevr I have become aware that my complaint in March this year should have been treated as a new complaint and have a new reference number. Does the fact that my new complaint has the same reference number as my original complaint mean that they have inadvertantly reopened the case? If I write back asking them to reconsider and give me a final final decision would this not restart the clock in terms of the 6 months?
I've initially asked this question on the Monsavingexpert forum but I only get answers from finacial advisors poohing me but not fully explaining their reasons for doing so. They advise that you only get one bite of the cherry and that I have missed my chance. However other's o the site have resubmitted claims after being rejected and been successful. They advise that I made a complaint about the policy being missold which was rejected and therfore cant make any further complaints of this nature. What else can you complain about in respect of PPI's? I have looked at a number of banking sites about such a situation and they advise that if I have new information they will review it after setting up a new complaint. this has not happened in my case.
As I write this it has just occured to me that given I ohave only ever made interest only repayments which were in the regioun of £1116-250 a month isnt £83 a month a lot to pay?
Any advice would be appreciated
G